Rail fastening



y 5, 1942- R. P. CLARKSON 2,281,750

RAIL FASTENING Original Filed Feb. 21, 1936 Patented May 5, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Original application February 21, 1936, Serial No. 64,999, now Patent No. 2,203,624, dated June 4,

1940, Serial No. 333,417

6 Claims.

This invention relates to rail fastenings and particularly to that type of rail fastenings comprising a resilient clip and a threaded bolt, the latter of substantially rail spike thickness and of such construction as to, of itself, fill the tieplate opening and block lateral movement of the rail and yet adapted to hook beneath the tieplate and be removable from the top.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved rail fastener simple and rugged in design, easy to manufacture and to apply, which is low in cost and efficient in operation, and which may utilize the present rail and support structure and preferably may be applied by the utilization of the present standard spike hole when the rail spike is removed or omitted, or a similar opening not necessarily at the edge of the rail.

Another object of this invention is to provide a rail fastener which maintains yielding vertical pressure on the rail and thus frictionally opposes longitudinal creeping of the rail and also blocks laterally any material movement of the rail sideways, the fastening element being itself substantially of the thickness permitted by the distance from the rail edge to the outer wall of the tieplate opening and when positioned in said opening presenting a solid bar against movement sideways of the rail, just as effectively; as would a spike.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates as the description proceeds, my invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction described in this specification and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes may be made in the particular embodiment of the invention within the scope of What is claimed, without departing from the spirit of the invention. I intend no limitation other than those of the claims when fairly interpreted in the light of the full disclosure and the state of the art thereto relating.

Attention is directed to my Patent No. 2,144,- 608 and to my Patent No. 2,203,624 of which this application is a division.

Referring now to the accompanying drawing illustrative of my invention and a form at present preferred,

Fig. 1 is an elevational view, partly in section illustrative of a preferred form of bolt and clip assemblage embodying my invention;

Divided and this application May 4,

Fig. 2 is a plan fragment on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detail illustrative of the application of the bolt of Figs. 1 and 4;

Fig. 4 is a perspective sketch illustrative of the bolt of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrative of the clip of Fig. 1.

Like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the drawing.

In the drawing a rail 2, of which only a fragment of the base is shown, is yieldingly held to a tieplate l by one or more resilient clips of the character shown in Fig, 1. The tieplate may be and normally is, of course, anchored to the usual Wood tie by the use of spikes as is well known. Such a spike (not shown) may be driven, for example, into the anchor spike opening I3.

The clip 8 is anchored to a tieplate l by a holding member or bolt l0 adapted to secure and flex the clip 8 and which, of course, is relatively rigid. The holding bolt 10 is provided on the head or lower end with a lip or hook 5 acting as a detent and effective on one side only, preferably projecting to the side of the shank continued, as best shown in Fig. 3, indentation of the side, in this case, providing the hook.

The detent lip portion 5 engages the under side of thetieplate I in the embodiment shown, preferably at the lower inner edge of the spike opening 3 or a similar opening positioned where desirable either against or laterally removed from the rail but preferably adjacent the edge of the rail base.

For existing track, I prefer to use the existing rail spike opening in present tieplates and a thickness of the bolt l0 corresponding to the usual spike thickness as clearly indicated in Fig. 3, the face 4 adjacent the book 5 being at such an angle as to permit the bolt to lie back against the wall of the spike hole as shown at II, when the bolt is positioned. Thus lateral movement of the rail is blocked by a solid steel piece.

The shank of the bolt l0 upwardly extends through the tieplate opening and is threaded at its upper end 6 and on this end is placed a nut 9 above the clip and capable when screwed down of flexing and securing the clip. The bolt is preferably provided with a shank portion of rectangular section substantially that of the opening 3, at least in thickness, one side being indented to provide the lip 5, as previously set forth. When driven or inserted (Fig. 3) into a spike opening 3 the bolt I0 is held vertically until the lip portion 5 is below the tieplate l or whatever the lip is to engage, whereupon the bolt III may be struck away from the rail 2 (Fig. 1) causing the lip 5 to penetrate or crush the tie and hook under the tieplate I, the bolt Iii thus canted away from the rail and preferably bearing back against the upper outer edge I I of the spike opening, a portion of the indented fiat surface 4 bearing against the edge of the rail base.

Various clips may, of course, be applied with this bolt Ill, as is apparent by inspection, but I prefer to provide for use with this bolt 'a wire clip 8 formed of an elongated member or wire rod or the like, preferably spring material rec'- tangular in section bent into a U-shape to provide a retaining loop l2, the resulting parallel sided elements spaced apart to provide a passage for the bolt it, each of the parallel elements in the instance shown being bent double and providing a rail bearingleg 1. cated (Fig. 2) the parallel sides of the clip ele ments contact the flat sides of the square shank of bolt Ill and prevent the clip from turning as the nut 9 is tightened down.

The clip 8 engages the top face of the tieplate and is restrained from sliding away from the rail 2 by engagement of the loop 12 with the bolt It].

In the sketch of Fig. 5 one of the parallel elements of the clip 8 is broken away, the broken leg being identical with the leg 1 shown, and preferably parallel thereto.

It is apparent that the tendency of the clip pressure and the action of the rail 2 in rising off the tieplate l during wave motion is to tend to tip the bolt Ill away from the rail 2. It may be pointed out also that lateral movement of the rail 2 on the tieplate I exerts a pressure on the to the bolt by which they are restrained, the section of the material and the length of the-arms back to where they rest on. the tieplate being variable and determining the flexing with definite pressure.

What I claim is:

1. An assemblage of the character described comprising, in combination, a rail, a tieplate provided with the usual spike opening therethrough adjacent the edge of the rail, rail fastening means for resiliently clamping said rail in direct contact with said tieplate and holding said rail against lateral or longitudinal movement, said rail fastening means including a resilient member overlying the base of said rail and pressing downwardly thereon, a bolt adapted to be inserted downwardly through said spike opening provided with a hook end engaging the underside of said tieplate when operatively positioned, a nut threaded on said bolt of such character and arrangement as to tense said resilient member, said bolt having a shank portion engaging both the edge of the base flange of the rail and the outer wall of said tieplate opening and so constructed and arranged as to present "a solid bar As clearly indiagainst lateral movement of said rail, and tieplate fastening means separate from and independent of said rail fastening means.

2. As an article of manufacture, a rail clip fastening element comprising a bolt provided with a rectangular shank of approximately rail spike cross section adapted to fill the top of the spike hole of a tieplate when inserted therein and having a hook at the lower end formed by indenting a fiat side of said rectangular shank whereby said hook may engage the under side of said tieplate and provided with a threaded portion at the upper end and of such character as to permit insertion into a rail spike hole from above.

3. As an article of manufacture, a rail clip fastening element comprising a bolt provided with a rectangular shank portion of approximately rail spike cross section adapted to fit the usual spike hole of a tieplate when inserted therein and indented on one side only to provide a V-shaped notch with a hook portion at the lower end the remaining sides of the shank portion bemg plane surfaces.

4. As an article of manufacture, a structure as defined in the preceding claim in which said -in 'dentation provides a face adjacent said hook at such angle as to permit said bolt to lie against the outer edge of said spike opening when said hook engages below the inner edge of said opening, said adjacent face so constructed and arranged as to contact the edge of the rail base and bar lateral movement of the rail when positioned.

5. A rail fastening assembly including a tieplate for carrying the rail to be fastened and in which the usual spike opening is provided adjacent the base of said rail, a spring metal rail clip adapted to press downwardly on the top of'the base of said rail and also adapted to .press downwardly on the top of said tieplate and provided with a passage therethrough, a bolt adapted to be inserted from above through said spike opening, said bolt having a threaded upper end and a shank portion therebelow adapted and arranged to engage both the edge of the base flange of the rail and the outer wall of said tieplate opening and thereby block lateral movement 'of the rail, a portion of said bolt adapted to pass through saidpassage in said clip, and a nut threaded on said upper end of said bolt whereby to tense said clip, said bolt being provided with a hook at the lower end whereby to engage the under side of said tieplate.

6. The combination with a rail and a rail support including a tieplate having the usual spike opening of a resilient member engaging said rail, adjustable flexing and securing means for said member positioned in said spike opening andengaging both said rail and said tieplate and canted away from said rail and so maintained by said resilient member and -by the wave motion of said rail, said means comprising a bdlt provided with a non-circular shank portion of substantially rail spike thickness "inserted into said spike opening from above constructed and arranged to block lateral motion of said rail and provided with a hook at the lower end engaging the lower face of said tieplate and a "threaded portion above said resilient member.

RALPHP. CLARKSON. 

